Aligning a Chromega F

[Bruce Schultz]

Anyone ever line up one of these big boys? I just started using one to print 8x10 negs, and the corners of some prints don't appear sharp. I can lift the easel on one end and bring things into sharpness, so that tells me some adjustments need t be made with the alignment. Does a Chromega F adjust the same way as a D-5 or D-3?
I bought a laser yesterday, and I'm going to try the beam-up-the-lens trick but even if it indicates something out of whack, I'm not sure where to start, or what to loosen.

[ronald moravec]

Why don`t you look to see if the same adjustment points are there? I can send service manuals for D`s if necessary. D`s are fully adjustable to three planes, two axis each.

[Bruce Schultz]

Thanks, but I've got a manual for the D models, and I'll try to use some of those ideas. I'm just not sure how much of the D alignment carries over to the F series.

[Leonard Robertson]

If you search "chromega f" on eBay, there are a couple of sellers with reprints of the F manual. Whether it has any alignment information, I don't know.

[Bruce Schultz]

Thanks Leonard. I have that manual and it doesn't say much at all about alignment.

[Dave Langendonk]

I have a Chromega F and a Chromega D5XL. The adjustments are similar but a bit different. The laser is the way to go. I use a mirror on the negative stage and align that with the baseboard using the four screws that attach the negative stage to the carriage. I then have a smaller mirror that I insert in place of the lens mount and align that with the baseboard. Check this at a couple different baseboard height settings. You may have to adjust the baseboard stops on the column so that baseboard stays parallel at the positions you use the most.

[Bruce Schultz]

Dave,
Do you use a regular laser tool, or a laser made for enlargers?
I've been trying one of these, shooting the laser, placed on the baseboard, through the lens onto a mirror in the negative stage, but I can't tell much. I'll try removing the lens for that tonight.

[Dave Langendonk]

Bruce,

Any laser will work that can be made perpendicular to the baseboard. I remove the lens. Never tried shooting it through the lens. It would seem to me that you'd have to be dead center under the lens for that to work. Maybe the lens experts here can tell us more.

As I mentioned above, just place a smaller piece of plate mirror in the leaf springs that hold the lens mount. Regular plate mirror stock should fit snugly. Just use an inexpensive glass cutter from the hardware store to cut it to size. I use a 12"x12" piece on the negative stage to align that first. Then I do the lens stage.

[Bruce Schultz]

Thanks Dave.
Yep, I removed the lens and it worked fine. With the lens in place, it was impossible.
I discovered that the highest of the 2 baseboard settings is misaligned.
The 2nd baseboard setting is pretty much square. It might even be dead-on, but my little $20 black and decker laser tool doesn't fit in the stand very snugly, and its levels allow for a lot of leeway, so it's hard to tell if the unit is truly perpendicular. At any rate, when I extended the enlarger to its highest level, I didn't have to raise any sides of the easel to get a fairly sharp image all the way around.
When I first got this behemoth a few weeks ago, I got my torpedo level and leveled the baseboard at the highest of the 3 baseboard levels. Now I realize I should have left it alone until I could check it with the laser.
Moral: make sure it's broke before you fix it.
The glass negative carrier reflected the laser well enough that I didn't need a mirror on the negative stage.